CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

QUEST

[You have achieved a small breakthrough. Your path has grown to Favoured Hatchling Lvl 12. +1 to all Primary Attributes, +1 Unallocated Point.]

[You have achieved a small breakthrough. Your path has grown to Favoured Hatchling Lvl 13. +1 to all Primary Attributes, +1 Unallocated Point.]

Let's. Fucking. Go! Shai winced desperately, laying flat atop the corpse. This creature was over three times her level. That didn’t mean it had thrice of all her attributes. No, it possibly had more than sheer physical strength. She knew she was no match for this Twisted Basilisk in a fair fight.

Its Physique had possibly reached triple digits, but its attributes were likely severely imbalanced. Its Mind, for example, could have been in single digits, top of being deranged from corruption. Shai wasn't merely speculating, her [Golden Eyes] were privy to such insight.

Shai's train of thought was interrupted as System Grandpa's voice rang in her mind.

[Congratulations! You have triggered the Quest: Vying the Apex Predator for defeating an adversary above your station.]

[Quest: Vying the Apex Predator

Once is luck, twice is a coincidence, tenth is the Apex Predator. You have defeated enemies above your station once, repeat the action nine more times to claim the title of Apex Predator.

Requirement: Kill ten adversaries a rank above you. (1/10)

Reward: Evolution of the Mark Predator into Apex Predator.

Penalty: Failing this quest will close all paths to Predator marks, or marks of similar routes.]

Shai's heart raced with excitement as she contemplated the quest. She forgot about her previous thoughts and the prospect of looting the massive corpse.

Shai might not know much, but one thing was certain, a Mark held immense value for her survival and growth. Shai felt blessed to possess three, even though she hadn't truly earned two of them. But that didn't dampen her desire for more.

Defeating Copper-ranked creatures would surely be challenging. Still, if she targeted those in the early stage of the Copper ranks, the chances of success were greater. Like if I can make one fall into the pit...

With twelve more levels to grow, Shai believed her potential surpassed that of most creatures she would encounter in this dungeon. She might just succeed in obtaining the mark before advancing to Copper rank if she worked wholeheartedly.

Shai returned her attention to the corpse before her, but her gaze couldn't help but drift to the surrounding area. Despite the looming darkness, her [Golden Eyes] enabled her to sense numerous jagged protrusions jutting out from the ground at an interval of a few feet. Each one of them was a high, sharp, tough stone spike, like the one impaling the basilisk's body. Lethal enough to fatally wound Copper-ranked creatures.

Suspicion began to grow in Shai's heart as she surveyed her surroundings. Even the walls of the pit were full of these dangerous, jagged stone protrusions.

That reminded me, how did I fall?

Much of the blame fell to the basilisk without a doubt, but Shai wasn't foolish enough to engage in combat next to a pit. In fact, she hadn't even noticed the pit. It wasn't merely due to the darkness. Something else was at play.

Shai stored the pile of ration back in the inventory before prying open the basilisk's head to loot the copper-ranked core. It was a small red gem, just looking at it with normal eyes you couldn't tell it vibrated with terrible power.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Shai could digest it if she ate it, but this was the core of a corrupted creature. It would only leave an unpleasant taste in her stomach and possibly the taint. She stored it away and began examining the pit. Fortunately, there were no other creatures to bother her.

With deft skills, Shai scaled the walls, manoeuvring her way through the rugged stones and jagged protrusions. She didn't have to climb far before she stumbled upon something intriguing. She didn't know what she was searching for, only that she craved something unusual and captivating, but what she found caused her to be overwhelmed altogether.

Her movement seemed to trigger a hidden mechanism on the wall, as before she could even register the danger, a fist-sized projectile struck her. That wasn't the end of it, though. The ball soon unravelled, unfurling into a net, like those used for catching fish. It captured Shai, hurtling her downwards to the ground again.

A hidden trap? What in the world is this place? Fortunately, her panic was short-lived as it turned out that the netting was designed to capture creatures much larger than herself.

Shai could move within the confines of the net and create a hole freely. It took some effort, but she broke free from her entanglement.

Moreover, the webs of the net seemed exactly of the same material as the Empathic spider silk. Shai had eaten that stuff before. She couldn't be mistaken there. This revelation led her to consider two plausible explanations for the creator of this trap.

It was either the intelligent, empathic spiders who inhabited this place, or other creatures who hunted the spiders for their silk and constructed this place. Shai had in mind to believe the former, even if she was unsure if the spiders were capable of creating these traps.

For a better examination, Shai enabled her [Golden Eyes] to its fullest extent and observed.

There were no mysteries the [Golden Eyes] was unable to unearth if she knew where to look.

The walls of the pit, Shai couldn't help but notice the intricate layers of weird geometrical formations etched throughout the surroundings. Arrays of these mysterious scripts connected to each jagged protrusion and various other locations, creating a complex network, not identical, but similar to the mushroom farm.

But back then, Shai had been too engrossed in her hunger and greed to study more of it.

Shai gazed upwards, her heart thumping louder with excitement. Her [Golden Eyes] almost failed to penetrate the shroud of darkness that enveloped the maw of the pit. This place wasn’t natural.

The intricate traps laid showcased a cunning design that enabled the creator to hunt with minimal effort. However, the creation of trap constructs and instilling them in the pit should require a substantial effort. Shai believed it was a worthwhile investment, considering the functionality remained intact.

Hmm, perhaps. Shai's mind constructed a plan as she became overwhelmingly interested in script formations. Her plan centred around utilising the trapped pit to its fullest potential.

However, before committing to any decisions, she needed to ensure that the pit was truly abandoned. The last thing she wanted was an encounter with an angry empathic spider mama defending its territory.

Shai couldn't help but feel her interest drifting back to the intricate script formations carved onto the walls and even the web constructs, as she moved out for scouting. Even if she couldn't utilise them to their fullest, Shai had a genuine desire to unravel the mechanisms and understand how they operated.

For hours, Shai scouted the surrounding areas. She came across many corrupted creatures, but no intelligent spiders, much to her delight. On top of that, she stumbled upon two more pits, similar in build, adorned with script constructs and traps. One of them was in complete ruins, while the other one was in a slightly poorer state than the one she fell into.

Shai finally understood why she didn't see the pit, as it turned out an illusion was at play there. The more she examined their inner workings, the more intrigued she got. Her expertise didn't even let her understand a tenth of their workings. Thankfully, her [Golden Eyes] let her see every bit of their intricacies if she put her mind to it.

It was as if the spider mama forgot to hide or camouflage the secret magic laying thinking there weren't any intelligent enough species in this dungeon. Well, Shai planned on surprising her.

The whole trap formation seemed to run on a single power source, which barely kept up the illusion construct, much less the other constructs. After she got some ideas about how it worked, Shai got to fix it.

The idea of getting out of the dungeon escaped her mind in front of the precious Mark to be had. Then again, getting out of the dungeon wasn't so easy. She had tried it before, and it led her here.

Hmm, perhaps it is fate... It is my calling.